Moldskred Illustrasjon + Design

I've Moved!

2010-08-17T23:25:00.000+02:00

Come join me on my shiny new blog! There will be regular updates, sneak peaks of new work and a few new regular features will pop up soon.

Hope to see you there!

Behind the scenes

2010-07-21T12:48:00.000+02:00

Things are happening behind the scenes here at Moldskred HQ. New stuff is being made, and new content for the blog is being planned and prepared. Hope you're all having a great summer. I will be back soon!

Prints

2010-06-20T13:13:00.000+02:00

(A little snap shot of my desk while preparing some prints to be posted)

My shop at Epla doesn't have a feedback system, so I decided to send out a small survey to my first 50 customers to make sure they were all happy with their prints. I was very excited to only get positive feedback, and at the same time got some input for potential new products for my shop. As a thanks for completing my survey, one lucky lady won a print of her choice. She chose the Toothbrush print, and here it is, almost ready to start it's journey over to Norway.

I usually keep the A4 size of the prints I send, as this is more flexible when it comes to choosing a frame or way to display the print in your home. Each print is signed, and has also got a label on the back with the title of the print, date created and signature. It is then posted in a cello sleeve in a hardback envelope.

Sorry about the terrible mobile phone photo. I am in the process of buying a new camera, and hopefully that should mean more and better photos for the blog!

Packing up

2010-05-15T17:46:00.002+02:00

This is what I'm surrounded by at the moment. Mountains of boxes in every room, almost ready for our next move.

By the end of next week I'll hopefully be all settled in to my new office in our new flat high up in the clouds. Can't wait!

And back again.

2010-04-30T22:10:00.006+02:00

(Photo: David McNeil)

Whoa! Offline life swept me away for a while there. It's been a hectic month and time has flown by. The famous volcanic ash led to my other half being stuck in Dubai for a week, while I was stuck here in the UK when I was supposed to be flying out to Portugal. When I realised my trip wasn't going to happen, I dusted myself off (quite literally) and decided to make the most of it - dancing my troubles away with good friends after the first real summer days.

I've also been doing lots and lots of thinking about the way forward for my business. I've been thinking big, and thinking hard, and hopefully I'll have some exciting stuff to show here quite soon. In the meantime though, I will make sure to pop up here more often.

The photo above is from something else that has been taking up quite a bit of my time lately - my man and I are getting married in September, and this week we had a pre-wedding photo shoot with our awesome photographer. In the hunt for the perfect location we got completely stuck in the mud, and I literally had to get down and dig to get Rich's shoe back. It was pretty funny! I do think the mud adds a little something extra to the photos though, wouldn't you agree? :)

I'm busy designing our invitations right now, and will show them here a bit closer to the day when all the guests have received theirs. I do love designing stationary, but for some reason it's so much harder to choose what direction to take when designing for myself!

Epla love

2010-03-16T00:13:00.002+01:00

Those great folks over at Epla continue to be oh so good to me. It was a great surprise when they contacted me to ask if they could use my Captain for a header for Barnas Epla (Epla for kids). I said yes of course!

Today my pictures popped up as today's featured products on their Facebook fanpage.

On a slightly less egocentric note, I was quite intrigued to see how Epla would look without the wintery theme, and I love the way they have kept the design very similar but swapped the snowflakes for some subtle brush strokes. They have really managed to create a great site, and it's a joy to use! It is so inspiring with people who have a good idea and really go for it and make stuff happen.

You can read an interview in English with the people behind Epla here.

Lionheart

2010-03-14T01:01:00.002+01:00

Can you smell the stale popcorn?

Hope that lion doesn't sneeze...

Refreshed

2010-03-12T14:57:00.000+01:00

Just back from a great week back home in Norway. Loads of coffee, quality time with awesome people and even a little bit of skiing.

Friday

2010-02-26T20:38:00.000+01:00

Coffee, candles and muffins while packing up some orders. Not too glamorous maybe, but certainly not the worst way to spend a Friday night.

Newcomer

2010-02-25T17:42:00.004+01:00

Look, Tuva's whale has got a little cousin! Meet Dolphin. These two look really sweet together. I might have to get them framed and show you a photo of them in some more inspiring surroundings.

They are both now available in my Epla shop and my Etsy shop.

15 minutes

2010-02-24T00:59:00.006+01:00

I was contacted by my local paper (back home) in January asking if I fancied doing an interview. Ignoring my love of my relative anonymity I said yes, and this is the result of a few emails back and forth between me and the reporter, Ingvild. Almost a full double page spread as this week's Laurdagspraten (Saturday chat). Fun! The headline reads A creative soul in Charles Dickens' home town.

Huge thanks to all of those helping my new Epla shop reach 25 sales already!

No more cold toes

2010-02-21T23:51:00.007+01:00

You might have noticed a small change here on the blog? Yep. I have decided to leave the cold*toes name behind. When I started this blog, I wasn't really sure what I wanted it to be or if I was even going to keep it up, but now it seems to make more sense to use the same name as my business. I now go by the same name on my website, my Epla Shop and my Etsy shop. All the URLs are still the same though. A more interesting header might pop up one of these days when I have a few spare minutes.

Featured

2010-02-16T12:17:00.006+01:00

Lena of the lovely blog Bo med barn (Living with children) has a little write-up of my work today!

The blog is written in Norwegian, but is packed full of lovely photos so I can recommend a visit for non-Norwegian readers too. The blog is mainly centered around children's interiors, and shows off some really great and creative spaces.

Thanks Lena :)

Hello Bear

2010-02-09T15:09:00.010+01:00

Well, it is the month of romance, no? This contact seeking bear is now available as a personalised print in both my Norwegian shop (Epla) and my international shop (Etsy). You decide what text you want on the balloon!

Stinky får en ny ven

2010-02-06T15:50:00.029+01:00

Illustrator Lynne Chapman writes a blog that is a real treasure trove for anyone interested in illustrating for children. She writes honestly about her process and shows us some great work-in-progress photos. Her posts on the creation of the book Bears on the Stairs are especially great.

Last week, Lynne posted some pictures of what her publisher had said was the Dutch edition of the book Stinky. After a few seconds of feeling quite exited that I was suddenly able to read and understand Dutch, I realised that this book surely had to be Danish. I sent Lynne an email to let her know, and because she is generous enough to give away the foreign editions of her books, she sent me one of her Danish copies!

One of the spreads from the book, where Stinky is having afternoon tea with the monkeys. Don't you just love the eye contact between the monkeys and Stinky?

Lynne also included a lovely post card and one of her bookmarks. The bookmark is a great idea as an alternative business card. The format has enough space for a short introduction, a list of some of her books, and links to her websites.

I do love illustrated end pages. It just adds that little something extra to a picture book. Love this little fatty with his banana and straw.

The picture on the right is borrowed from Lynne's website.

It's interesting to see how the Danish publisher decided to design the cover, using very different typography. The title has also changed a bit in the Danish version. The full UK title is: Stinky! Or How the Beautiful Smelly Warthog Found a Friend, while the Danish title simply reads: Stinky gets a new friend. Scandic love of less is more, or just lazy translation? Hm. Not sure...

Stinky får en ny ven is a very sweet story about finding friends who will love you for who you are, and about being misunderstood. The illustrations add some colourful humour that helps keep the story from getting too sweet and mushy.

Thanks Lynne!

Focused

2010-02-03T17:17:00.010+01:00

There is one expression that perfectly sums up growing up where I did:

You don't have more fun than you make yourself.

We may only have had one TV channel until well into the nineties, but three little girls with lively imaginations rarely have trouble finding something to do. The detective agency I founded with the clever S and the brave L is still going strong. We have solved some big mysteries in our time, and I'm sure there are more to come!

One day I will write a book about those three little detectives.

(This week's IF contribution - just a wonky little sketch)

Pretty S

2010-01-26T19:48:00.004+01:00

This was originally a little sketch I made for my friend *S* when she found out she had to have braces put back on her teeth in her 20's. She was not very impressed, so I made her this little character to make her laugh.

Not quite sure why she's wearing a crash helmet, but maybe it's because she is known for being pretty unlucky and clumsy! Actually, I don't think she is more clumsy than the rest of us, but she has the guts to laugh at herself and admit when she has done something clumsy whereas I would just go bright red and pretend like nothing happened...

This was originally just a sketch, scanned and coloured digitally in flat colour, but I fancied having a go at a pastel version. Not the most amazing thing, but it'll do nicely as this week's IF contribution.

Sketches and Sunshine

2010-01-18T15:21:00.005+01:00

(Some more character sketches I've been working on)

The sun is shining today and the temperature has crawled up to 6 degrees, much to the relief of the people around here. English people are good at a lot of things, but snow is not one of them! It's all a little amusing to someone from a winter country. To be fair though, it is not often they have to deal with this much of it.

I have just about got back into the rhythm of things, and have had a nice and productive January so far. Today is set aside for sketching, so I've got my coffee and my moleskin ready and am all set.

Featured

2010-01-12T16:52:00.005+01:00

After what felt like minutes after I opened my Epla shop, one of my pictures appeared on the front page as one of Epla's 'daily loves'. How fun!

Butikk på Epla.no

2010-01-12T15:05:00.008+01:00

Eg har åpna ein liten butikk på epla.no!

På denne fine sida kan vi kjøpe og selge i norske kroner, og ikkje minst oppdage spennande nye ting laga av kreative "naboar".

Akkurat no er det mest kjente trykk å finne i butikken min, men nytt og friskt stoff er på veg!

English:

This one is for the Norwegians, really. I have opened a shop at the newish site epla.no. Epla is a Norwegian equivalent to Etsy. I will of course keep my Etsy shop open as well.

Happy New Year (and thanks for the old one)

2009-12-31T11:52:00.011+01:00

There is only a little sliver left of 2009 and I was just, as many others are today, thinking back to what has happened in the last year. Actually, my first thought was that nothing much had happened at all, but that is not entirely true.

I moved back to England, and I left my job as art director in order to throw myself head first into self employment and freelancing (ok, there might have been a little push involved). I guess those things do actually qualify as 'something'. I have had a lot of fun getting back into my illustration work again, and am looking forward to a lot more of that in 2010.

Apart from the usual little things, like being nicer, fitter, slimmer, prettier, more successful, richer and generally better all round, I haven't got any real resolutions for the new year. I do, however, have a pretty substantial list of things I'd like to get done in the next few months. Hopefully this will lead to some good stuff to share here on the blog too.

But for now, I still have a few days to spend quality time with the family and browse interior design blogs with my sister.

It started snowing a few days ago, and it hasn't stopped since, so the Christmas atmosphere is just about perfect.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

(The illustration above is part of a little character development I was playing with. You can see more of that here)

Almost Christmas

2009-12-11T18:04:00.007+01:00

Did we forget to have November this year?! This autumn has gone by so quickly, and I am now sitting here looking at our little tree and Christmas decorations with a slight feeling of surprise. How did we get here? Tonight is the last night in our flat before going away for three weeks, so I am crossing out the last things on my To-Do list and am going to spend tonight baking Norwegian Christmas cookies and trying to slow down and take in the Christmas feeling.

This guy is heading out to find the perfect Christmas tree. If he's anything like me though, he'll come back with a slightly lopsided and sad-looking one. I always feel so sorry for the less pretty ones...

I have been knocking out the background on most of my drawings lately, but I like the warm tone of the paper on this one, so have left it in for now.

O'Hoy!

2009-12-03T00:03:00.007+01:00

This old fisherman is now up on the website along with a couple other new ones.

In the Daily Mail

2009-11-12T11:38:00.017+01:00

I've got a little illustration in the Christmas supplement of the Daily Mail today! I usually try to hold off on getting excited about Christmas until December, but this year I'm stretching it out as far as I can. Doing Christmas cards and Christmas illustrations, and watching the new A Christmas Carol in the cinema yesterday has made me want to get the decorations out, but I will make myself wait until advent starts.

Champion

2009-10-26T12:40:00.005+01:00

He's the fastest skier in town!

I didn't get my link ready in time for the Illustration Friday topic last week (you can see my Frozen illustrations here though), but this week I am early! It's nice to take a break from other work to do quicker illustrations like this one. He's a bit goofy looking, I know, but he still has a certain charm in his own way...

Christmas Cards in the shop!

2009-10-23T15:00:00.004+02:00

My Christmas cards have found their way to the shop. It seems a little strange thinking about Christmas already, especially with the sun streaming in the windows, but it really isn't long before we have to start thinking about sending out those cards!

I am actually looking forward to winter now. Especially after my family came to visit and my mum left behind a nice stash of warm socks to pull on when curling up on the sofa with a big cup of tea.

These illustrations go pretty well with this week's Illustration Friday topic "Frozen" too, but not sure I'll manage to upload my link in time!

Flying Nellie

2009-10-14T17:49:00.006+02:00

I've had this little drawing tucked away in my sketchbook for a while, and decided this week's Illustration Friday topic 'Flying' would be a good excuse to draw it up in colour.

(The quality of the scan is not looking quite as good as I'd like, so I might have to try to work on that some more to see if I can figure out what is going on.)

ATCHOOOO!

2009-10-05T21:07:00.004+02:00

I jumped in and joined the fun over at Illustration Friday today. Just a (very) quick little drawing to illustrate this week's word: Germs. ATCHOOOO!

Bear and Bunny

2009-09-23T18:07:00.004+02:00

Having a lot of fun working on some narrative illustrations this week. I wanted an image for the front page of my website that was a bit more fun, and I think these guys are a good fit. Not sure what they are talking about, but it looks pretty interesting...

New website

2009-09-07T01:36:00.003+02:00

I have finally had chance to give my website a complete overhaul. It feels good to have a clean and fresh site to display my work, and I am planning on adding to and changing the content quite regularly. It was fun to get stuck into learning more about the coding behind the website, but I am looking forward to getting back to drawing next week. Visit my site at moldskreddesign.com !

Have we got an agreement?

2009-08-21T10:57:00.005+02:00

New print in the shop.

IRISZ AGOCS - artractions

2009-08-19T12:02:00.006+02:00

I just rediscovered a blog I used to follow but somehow lost track of. I stumbled across the Etsy shop artractions and recognized the super charming work of Irisz Agocs.

I love how she manages to infuse so much personality and expression into her sketchy lines and limited use of colour.

(The lovely picture was found on Irisz' blog)

Back in Old Town

2009-08-12T13:04:00.005+02:00

I'm back in Norway for a few days to help train the person taking over my old job as Art Director. It's been good seeing everyone again, and the new AD seems really nice. I'm filling up pages in my sketchbook ready to get into some "real" drawing again when I get back.

The picture above is of one of my prints framed and ready to ship to a very lovely customer. The prints I sell in my shop are usually not framed, but I am happy to do it if requested of course.

Two Queens

2009-08-03T16:38:00.011+02:00

I have added these two little Queens to my shop.

I'm finally having some time to spend drawing, and I love it! It feels so good to get back into that cloud of pastel dust. I have so many ideas for what I want to do, so hopefully there will be more additions to the shop over the next few weeks.

laurageorge

2009-03-15T16:07:00.011+01:00

The creatures and monsters created by Laurageorge are just so cool. I love the sense of humour in her work. The step-by-step instructions for hugging a tree and cooking noodles are so clever.

Laura is an artist and illustrator from Chicago, and she also has a blog, minutiae where we can see more of her work and get to know what this talented lady is up to.

I love these "behind the scenes" pictures. It's always nice getting an idea of how other artists work.
(All images in this post are copyright Laura Berger, and found in her Etsy shop or on her blog)

On the move - again

2009-03-14T16:13:00.011+01:00

On the exact one year anniversary of me moving from England to Norway, I am moving back to England again. Things do not always turn out the way we plan (in fact, it almost never does!). But what looked like a big, scary step backwards, might just turn into a whole new adventure.

Never mind the global economic crisis - I'm going freelance!

In the three weeks before the Big Move takes place, I will be busy getting my head around all the practical and legal stuff, before I take this big international leap into the great unknown.
Wish me luck!

The gorgeous photo above is a polaroid transfer, photographed by Matt Schwartz of She Hit Pause Studios. I love the vintage colours and feel of these prints. Lots more in his Etsy shop too.

Simona Cordero

2009-01-21T21:07:00.004+01:00

I don't really know anything about this talented lady, other than the fact she's Italian, and has a Flickr stream stuffed full of incredibly beautiful work.

(Image from Simona Cordero's photostream)

Mark Traughber - BLOODLE

2009-01-21T20:26:00.008+01:00

I always struggle when it comes to finding good presents for my man. It tends to end up being something boring and practical.
This year I stumbled across the Etsy shop of Mark Traughber aka BLOODLE and suddenly the problem was too much choice!

Mark's stencil paintings are great and I love his choice of colours.
They look even better in real life, and the best part about giving these to the man I live with (after seeing his happy face when he got them, of course) is that I'll get to see them every day too!

(Images from BLOODLE)

Sculptor Elisabeth Helvin

2009-01-12T21:23:00.013+01:00

I have to admit I can loose quite a bit of time on the internet getting tempted from one link to another. Sometimes I end up just terribly behind on what I was supposed to be doing, but more often I end up discovering some great new blogs or artists.

This was how I came across the work of sculptor Elisabeth Helvin. Her work is full of attitude and surprise elements. Angels with boxing gloves?
LOVE IT!

Take a look at her website for more great stuff.

(Images from Elisabeth´s website)

Jumping right in

2009-01-12T20:32:00.010+01:00

After being a blog reader and lurker for quite a while now, I am finally jumping right in here myself!

I'd like to share some of my work and inspirations on here, and then we'll see how it goes from there.

The pictures above are some of the prints available in my Etsy shop.

Moldskred Illustrasjon + Design

I've Moved!

Behind the scenes

Prints

Packing up

And back again.

Epla love

Lionheart

Refreshed

Friday

Newcomer

15 minutes

No more cold toes

Featured

Hello Bear

Stinky får en ny ven

Focused

Pretty *S*

Sketches and Sunshine

Featured

Butikk på Epla.no

Happy New Year (and thanks for the old one)

Almost Christmas

O'Hoy!

In the Daily Mail

Champion

Christmas Cards in the shop!

Flying Nellie

ATCHOOOO!

Bear and Bunny

New website

Have we got an agreement?

IRISZ AGOCS - artractions

Back in Old Town

Two Queens

laurageorge

On the move - again

Simona Cordero

Mark Traughber - BLOODLE

Sculptor Elisabeth Helvin

Jumping right in

Pretty S